


It started with dogs pics

by vivaldis_lover



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkward Tension, Flirting through dogs pics, M/M, Matt Holt is a disaster, Meet-Cute, Pidge | Katie Holt is So Done, hunk is hopeless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-19
Updated: 2019-01-19
Packaged: 2019-10-12 21:23:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17475221
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vivaldis_lover/pseuds/vivaldis_lover
Summary: Hunk looked like the kind of guy who could win a caber toss competition with ease and then take you to the finest patisserie in Paris to celebrate.“Matt, you’re staring,” whispered Katie.He could hear her thinking:“You make a fool of yourself here, I won’t let you forget it for the next fifteen years”.**At the dog shelter Katie finds a four-legged companion and Matt probably a future boyfriend.





	It started with dogs pics

**Author's Note:**

> Self indulgent awkward first meeting 'cause Hatt needs more content. Unbeta'd

It was a fine Saturday morning, in the middle of March, the start of his spring break, a moment that Matt was supposed to spend in bed. And instead, he was driving his extremely stubborn sister to the dog shelter. Because there was one thing Katie Holt, his exceptionally smart sister, didn’t know how to do: give up.

In December the sixteen year old had snatched the promise of a dog from their parents and since then she had never stopped pestering them, asking when they were going to actually adopt one. They had finally given in, but _obviously_ that day they were both busy, so it became Matt’s duty to accompany his sister and choose together the dog. Well, it made sense to make sure that at least half of the family liked the dog they were going to pick. And honestly, there were worse way to spend a Saturday morning.

So now he was stuck driving through the city with an excited Katie by his side, to a dog shelter named Doggyland. Despite the name, they had their fair share of cats. And a goat, but it was not up for adoption. It was more of a mascot.

“Then there’s Larry. He’s a bit old, though, but very well behaved, they say,” said Katie, reading from the shelter’s site.

“Larry? Who names their dog Larry?” he asked.

“One of the volunteers there, clearly.”

The shelter had been suggested by one of their dad’s friend, who had adopted two cats a year before. They had a Facebook page, where they kept their followers updated on the new dogs and cats at the shelter, who got adopted and little parties they threw every once in a while to raise money.

He had told Shiro, his roommate at college and new best friend, about his upcoming trip to the dog shelter before they parted ways for spring break. The guy hadn’t stopped begging for dog pictures since then.

 When they finally arrived and he checked his phone to see if someone had called while he was driving, Shiro’s name was on the screen. Obviously.

_“pls don’t forget the dogs! : )”_

_“How could I?”_ thought Matt. His roommate was such a dork and that was probably why they got along so well.

In the meantime, Katie had nearly thrown herself out of the car. She fixed her skirt and zipped up her jacket; the sun was bright, but the air was still a bit chilly.

“C’mon, Matt!” she said, speeding from the parking lot towards the shelter. He trotted behind her.

The place looked really bland from the outside – metal door, grey walls surrounding it –, but the inside was actually nicer: the volunteers had done their best to decorate it with plants and flowers and the outer walls of the cages were painted in bright colors. The dogs inside the cages looked well fed and pretty stoked to have visitors. The cats, who shared the biggest cage, minded their own business.

A middle aged man welcomed them.

“Hi, I’m Katie! I wrote to one of the volunteers a few days ago. My family and I are looking for a dog to adopt,” his sister immediately explained.

“Oh, yes! If you wait a moment, I’m gonna find a volunteer who can show you around. I’m Jackson, by the way,” said the man, then he disappeared somewhere.

He and Katie remained there, looking awkwardly around and waiting for Jackson to come back with a volunteer. And when he did, Matt realized that there was a reason why he was there that morning.

“Hi, my name’s Hunk. Jackson told me you’re looking for a new member of your family.”

It was like the guy had jumped straight out of one of Matt’s fantasies, with his strong arms, kind eyes and huggable frame. The guy was _thick_. The perfect mix of chubby and muscular. Matt had a feeling a hug from the guy could crush is ribcage, but at the same time he gave off an aura of softness: he knew he would have never actually hurt him. They were more or less the same height, but he felt so small compared to him.

Hunk looked like the kind of guy who could win a caber toss competition with ease and then take you to the finest patisserie in Paris to celebrate.

“Matt, you’re staring,” whispered Katie.

He could hear her thinking: _“You make a fool of yourself here, I won’t let you forget it for the next fifteen years”_.

He shook out of his stupor and extended his hand. Hunk’s grip was, as he anticipated, firm and strong. He had to repress a moan of pleasure. If there was one thing he hated, it was shaking hands with someone who seemed to have a dead salmon instead of a hand, and Hunk was the polar opposite of that kind of person.

He could feel Katie praying for her soul to leave her body and not have to witness her brother embarrassing himself. He cleared his throat.

“Shall we take a look at the dogs?” he proposed.

“Of course!” said Hunk, apparently unbothered by Matt’s way of formulating his question.

He guided them through the cages, introducing them to the dogs, explaining where they came from, their stories and their personalities. At that point, Matt was not really registering what Hunk was saying – but that was okay, the important thing was that Katie was listening and making up her mind.

Matt knew he was acting like an idiot. Self-awareness is a curse, when you lack the self-control to stop your idiotic behavior. But Hunk was just to pleasant to look at, with his big brown eyes and soft dark hair. He had no doubt that being held by Hunk would have made him feel safe and protected.

Shiro, _thankfully_ , had not had this effect on him, or he wouldn’t have been able to survive even the first week of college. Too beefy for his taste.

Shiro, right. He had completely forgot to take pictures of the dogs. Was he even allowed to?

“Uh, I have a question,” said Matt, between one introduction and the other.

“Ask away.”

“Is it a problem if I take a few pictures? A friend asked me to send some.”

Hunk made the face of someone who doesn’t _exactly_ want to say no, but is supposed to do so and Matt immediately regretted asking. Of course he couldn’t. Why did he even bother? He was such an idiot. Now Hunk was going to treat him like one. Well done, Matt, he told himself, once again you’ve made a fool of yourself.

“We’d actually prefer the visitors didn’t take pictures…” He looked around suspiciously. “But. If you want, you can give me your number and I can send you a few pics that I managed to take.”

Matt was almost tearing up. “Thank you,” he whispered.

Hunk went back to introducing Katie to the dogs.

_“What a good guy,”_ thought Matt. _“I bet he helps old ladies cross the street.”_

He was not thinking about the imminent end of the guided tour and when it happened he made a desperate attempt to prolong the time spent with him.

“I would like to take a look at the cats too,” he blurted out. Katie looked at him like she was saying _“are you serious?”_. Hunk was momentarily taken aback, but he didn’t question Matt’s desire.

“Sure, why not!”

Katie rolled her eyes. “Please, give me the keys, I’ll wait for you in the car.”

Matt nodded slowly and passed her the object that led to her freedom.

And then he was alone with Hunk. He really hadn’t thought that plan through: what was he supposed to do now?

Suddenly Hunk slammed a hand between his shoulder blades, knocking the air out of his lungs.

“C’mon, let’s go see the kitties.”

He meekly followed the guy inside the cats’ cage.  The animals didn’t pay too much attention to them, when they entered. A couple of them came to nuzzle Hunk’s legs and he bent down to pet them.

“When did you start volunteering here?” he asked, trying to make some small talk and learn something more about Hunk.

“A couple of years ago. My mom is friends with the guy who created this place. So when I’m not helping my parents in our bakery, I come here to take care of the dogs,” replied Hunk, picking up one of the cats. “Slav, say hi to our friend!”

The nervous cat looked at Matt and stayed completely still. Matt stared back. If he focused hard enough, he could hear sirens going off in the cat’s brain.

“I don’t think he likes me,” he suggested.

“Nah, he’s just a very shy kitty,” said Hunk, nuzzling Slav’s forehead.

He found himself half an hour later back in the vehicle, covered in cat fur, _and_ he had bought a t-shirt with the logo of the dog shelter and a calendar. Just because he wanted to help the place by buying some of their merchandise. Totally not because he wanted to make a good impression on Hunk. At all.

Katie looked at him, judging. “I have no words.”

In the meantime, inside the dog shelter, Hunk was taking out his phone and dialing Lance’s number.

“Dude, the cutest guy I’ve ever seen came to the shelter today.”

 

A couple of hours later, as Matt and his family were having lunch, he received a text from an unknown number: it was a bunch of blurry pictures of dogs. A few of them were selfies that Hunk had taken with the dogs of the shelter. He sent them to Shiro, who replied saying that he owed Matt his life.

He also kept all the pictures that had Hunk’s face in them.

The adoption process was quite easy and a couple of days later they could pick up their new dog, who Katie decided to call Bae Bae.

The day after the adoption, Matt drove to a shop specialized in animals care and bought a few bags of dog food to bring to the shelter, knowing that they were always accepting donations.

He did that also a couple of days later, this time with a few bags of cat food too. He went back to the shelter one of the weekends that he spent at home too. All in the hope of meeting Hunk again.

One time Katie saw him sneak out of the home with the umpteenth load of food donations and said _“Oh my god, just ask him out! You have his number!”_

That would have been the most logical solution, if Matt hadn’t panicked every time he picked up his phone to text Hunk. Instead he moaned about his crush to Katie, who sometimes let his wallow in her room, but more often than not kicked him out, too fed up with her hopeless brother to even listen.

In a similar situation was Hunk’s best friend, Lance. In that particular evening he was on the phone, listening to Hunk lamenting the fact that he had only seen Matt a couple of times since the dog’s adoption.

“But don’t you have this guy’s number?” said Lance, interrupting his friend.

“Yeah. So?”

“Don’t you see the point that I’m trying to make?”

There was silence at the other end of the line.

“He would never accept going on a date with me.”

Lance face-palmed.

 

It was by complete chance that they run into each other at the supermarket. Hunk was not a habitual visitor there. On the other hand, Matt was now almost the best friend of the cashier, because he always went there to buy the food for the pets.

Matt froze with a couple of bags of cat food in his arms, as if he was trying to smuggle cocaine inside the border when he saw Hunk staring at him from the end of the isle.

_“Oh god, for how long has he been staring?”_ he thought.

_“Oh Jesus, he must think I’m a creep because I was staring,”_ thought Hunk.

“H-hi!” stuttered out Matt. “I hadn’t seen you there.”

“Oh, I was not staring!” quickly said Hunk.

“Ah, okay!”

Matt looked at the bags in his arms and shrugged with an innocent expression on his face. “I want to make sure the kittens are well fed.”

“That’s very kind of you,” replied Hunk, without anything better to say.

“Thank you.”

Hunk studied some products in front of him, as Matt read the list of ingredients for the kibbles.

“I have to buy some chips?...” said Hunk, gesturing somewhere on his left.

“Oh, I need those too,” lied Matt, and followed Hunk into the isle where they kept the snacks.

Hunk looked really good in shorts, couldn’t help notice Matt. His eyes roamed over his forearms as he watched the guy grab a few bags of chips and then look for some soda.

“Some special occasion or you just feel like having chips?” said Matt, in an attempt to make conversation.

“I have invited a friend over to see a movie. I just wanted to have something we could snack on as we watch,” explained Hunk. “I mean, I could have made something, I guess, but these are his favorite chips, so I wanted to make him a surprise.”

“That’s nice of you.”

“So,” said Hunk. “You’re in college, right?”

“Yes, I’m studying engineering.”

“Oh, that’s so cool!”

Hunk looked like he wanted to say more about Matt’s field of study’s choice, but he had to pay attention to the lady at the register. Matt bought a couple of plastic bags to put all the pet food in.

As they walked towards the exit, Matt decided to give the bags to Hunk, so he could bring them to the shelter the next day, when he had a shift.

“Well, uh…” Hunk shot a look at his car. “I guess I should go…”

“Of course,” said Matt. “It was nice meeting you here.”

“Same.”

Hunk turned to the car and Matt started walking toward his. He only took a few steps, when he decided to be bold and stop boh. Hunk had the same thought in the same moment, so they ended up talking over each other.

“Can I ask you something?”

“I need to ask one thing!”

They went silent and stared at each other. The parking lot was not the most romantic place to have that conversation, but they made it work.

“It’s that-“ started Matt.

“Do you-“ said Hunk.

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t-“

“My bad, go on-”

Both of them finally shut up, waiting for the other to speak; inevitably they started talking over each other once again.

“Do you want to go-“

“-on a date with me?”

“Of cou-“

“Yeah!”

Matt looked at Hunk, trying to process what he had just said and heard.

“Wait, _really_?”

“Uh, _yeah_? Was that the wrong answer?”

“No!” laughed Matt. “Absolutely not!”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated :)


End file.
